Eating on less than $1 a day

During my recent trip throughout India, it struck me how stark the contrast is between the have’s and the have-not’s. The booming Indian middle class, buoyed and funded by technology ousourcing, are experiencing things that many in the United States (or those in any other developed economy) consider their god-given right to enjoy.

Modern shopping malls. New cars. Designer Jeans. Cell-phones. High-rise luxury condos.

The change is drastic. India is becoming materialistic. The poverty, however, is also rampant. Next to these new high-rises are sprawling stinking jam-packed slums. While India is quickly becoming the diabetic capital of the world (thanks to a westernized diet and sedentary work), many are struggling just to put food on the table.

This last point is especially saddening, considering that during my travels, I was able to enjoy fantastic meals full of flavor and variety for only 20-30 Rupees on many occasions! Keep in mind, 20 Rupees is only about $.50 USD! The meals were large enough to satiate even the biggest appetite (yes Chuck, even you).

Each meal would have enough rice to feed a horse, a few chapatis (whole-wheat flat bread), 2-3 items that can only be described as “savory soups”, a few spoons of a couple different curries, a few crunchy things to munch on and a small serving of yogurt.

But that’s not all, the waiters would run around with buckets of food, and if you were running low, just give them a look and they’ll fill up your plate again! Yes, we’re basically talking about an all-you-can buffet of South Indian Food for well under a dollar. The food was simple, but very tasty.

While flying home to The States, I wondered how nice it would be to live in India. I started doing the mental math to figure out how much I would need to save (with a decent salary in USD) to retire in such a place! Then it struck me that while I was relishing the possibility of a nice little arbitrage opportunity…..most of the people in India still can’t afford even $1 USD a day for food. My 20 Rupee meals were well out of their price range.

Walking by the queue lining up at the Starbucks line made feel even more sick. People just couldn’t wait to plunk down what would be enough money for full-week’s worth of food for a single latte! The amazing thing is, most middle-class Americans actually consider this normal! $4 lattes, $6 movie theater popcorn and $50 bottles of wine are the norm.

It is one thing to pay for these things and appreciate them as gifts that you are blessed enough to have the wealth to enjoy. It is another things entirely to assume that these things are your god-given right!

While I do not think it is reasonable that imagine that Americans would be able to easily survive on $1/day, I do think it is our responsibility to show appreciation for what we have, and to help others who are at a loss. It also means taking full stock of your economic situation. Someone who buys a $4 latte every day is being a hypocrite if they say that “they aren’t making enough money,” or they “can’t afford to give much to charity.” I hear this gripe far to often from my middle-class friends.

If we start showing more appreciation for what we have as middle-class Americans, and show respect for what we spend our money on, we would be able to cut back on such frivolous spending on gastronomic pleasures. In turn, we would have the means to save more and help feed hungry mouths that struggle to provide for themselves or their families on far less than $1 a day.